Five years ago, in the year 2008, a large meteorite crashed on the eastern coast of Australia. Inside the meteorite was discovered shards of a strange crystal. Upon further study the shards were shown to give the possessor special 'powers'. The United Nations assembled to decide what to do with the shards. Under the pressure the UN crumbled, along with most other governments. Anarchy took over, with the person with the most powerful shards ruling. Now, in the year 2013, it's an all out war.

There are three main groups that could be considered 'governments':

Marinae - The militaristic Marinae feel that the shards should be used to invoke a world order, with super human police protecting the innocent. They are the most technologically advanced, and have found how to boost the power of their shards.

E'shyum - The E'shyum believe that the shards were given to the Humans as a test, from beings from other star systems, too see whether we are ready for contact with other beings. The E'shyum use the shards the most, and have discovered how to replicate the shards, but each copy is weaker than the last.

Suvoj - The Suvoj are religious zealots that believe the shards are a gift from god. They have figured how to partially translate the runes inscribed inside the shards, increasing their control over their powers.

When a shard hasn't been given a power, it is considered a 'clean' shard. To 'activate' a shard the user must firmly in both hands. The shard will begin to glow, and the user will feel a tingling sensation. Afterwards, the shard will grant the user a power, usually some reflection of their personality. Whenever a shard has been activated, they have strange engravings inside, in some foreign writing. These shards are called 'etched' shards. For a new user to use the shard, they must repeat the process of activating it, although the power will remain the same.

There are also a second type of shards, the fabled Phantom Shards. These shards are purple in color (unlike regular shards, which are blue-green). These shards seemingly appear out of nowhere, already etched. They are still only a myth, and have not been completely acknowledged.

Don Alden splashes water on his face. It isn't cold, but you gotta live with what you got. He looks around his barren tent. It contains three items: a cot, card table scattered with maps, and a basin filled with warm water. He dries his face with a towel, and straps on his weapons, a pistol on his left and a sword on his right. He stands in front of the flap to his tent and takes a deep breath. This is it, a second chance to make peace with the Suvoj. It won't last, of course, but it will give him a chance to recuperate and rebuild his forces. The Suvoj and Marinae borders were colliding, and as far as he could tell, the E'shyum's forces were tied up in Europe, although they had some forces in New England, on the other side of the country.

He raises his arm to shield his eyes as he steps out into the harsh Arizona sunlight. Standing at attention on either side of the entrance were the two men he had chosen to take on this meeting. On his right, his personal bodyguard, Eric, a large muscly man with a shaved head and shard induced strength. On his right Barrek Firehand, a short camouflaged man who had proven high loyalties to the Marinae cause.

He walks over to the circular table in the ring of three tents, and sits in one of the two seats. His two men take their positions behind him. In the distance he can see a cloud of smoke, caused by a vehicle, most likely a buggy of some sort. Inside was Edgar White, leader of the Suvoj, and the two people he had chosen to take with him.

Nearby, Holly Marina, and her partner Josiah Radque march through the desert. Grasped between his hands is a shard. He stops walking, pointing the shard in several directions.

*Barrek pulls the cigarette from his mouth, dropping the stub on the desert sand and stepping on it on his next stride, reaching into a pocket, he pulls out another cigarette and a lighter with an old American flag on it. He lights up the cigarette, and deeply inhales the smoke. He keeps the lighter in hand, opening the top and lighting it for a second, then snapping it closed. Then opening and lighting it again and closing it again repeatedly. His short cropped blonde hair is greasier than usual from the desert heat, and his black cammo looks like it must be incredibly uncomfortable, but he keeps any complaints he might have to himself. The edges of his gloves are tucked up the sleeves of his cammo shirt, and a 9-mil is holstered at his side. He glances at Don.*

I don't trust those fanatics as far as I could throw one. They would do anything to get us to lower our guard.

Erick lay in the brabells about 50 meaters from the three tents, he watched the body gards going about there buisnes preping for the important meating. he dint no what his instrutions where yet, he was told not to opin them until he got close.
"was this close enufe?" he wonderd to himself silently.
he ducked down lower thinking he may have acsidently spoke aloud. the desert sun was realy geting to him. in his home land the weather was mutch cooler than this.
he desided now was the time. he opiend his orders.
they read "Infeltraight the meating, fined the leader of the Marina faction and take his shard, once you have done so readio the word Babomb and get the hell out of there"
"oviusly an artilary bombardment of some kined" he thoght quietly to himself but he still couldent help wondering.
he ordered a squad of men that where falowing him to stay put and waght of his signal. this squad was part of a larger army that was positined farther back and waghting for the signal to advance.
he than crepet slowly up the small hill staying out of sight of the gards.
once he reached the first tent secrched it for an entry point other than the door. the tent was old, a left over from the korean war. the tent was also hastaly asembeled. and not properly tied to the ground. this made sliping in easy. first he made shure it was empty than just craled in under the canvas.
once in side he found an elivated cot. he sliped under neath itthre the crack in the door he could see the back of the Marina leader. Erick puled out a desert egal pistel from a sling and a silencer from his Desert camo pants pocket. he atached the silencer. than puled a curiusly shaped bolet from his pocket, it wasent a bulet at all, it was a tranquiliser dart modifide to fit in and fier from his gun.
he lay there and put the back of the Marina leader right in his Iron sight. now he just needed to waght for the signal.

"Yeah, probably. But Edgars always had good intentions, and we need this seize fire. The Ustaw are pressing on our norther borders, and we need to divert troops there. Hell, maybe we'll even form an alliance, take out those bastard E'shyum together."

He leans back in his chair and propped his feet on the table, waiting for the Suvoj leader's arrival. Eric leans in close and whispers in his ear,

"I dunno, Boss. Something doesn't feel right--"

"You're right, something isn't right. But either way, we have to go through with this."

*Barrek looks out at the approaching buggy. A slight rustle from one of the tents catches his attention, looking over at it, he stares at it, trying to find what it was that caught his attention. Desiding that it was nothing, he looks back out at the approaching buggy.*

Jack Dreddin paced in his office many miles away, thinking. He currently had a well working, powerful army. He had no shards himself, he needed none. He was a politician, a leader. He personally needed none, and simply gave it, or a copy, to his soldiers.

He listened on his radio to his chief general, Brad Desin. "All troops are in postition for our latest movement. We'll proceed when they appear unprepared, and there is the least chance of collateral damage. Permission to use deadly force?"

The buggy came in closer and closer, baring three people inside of it. Driving the car was an Indian woman with a stern look in her eyes and armed to the teeth. She had her wiry black hair in a pony tail and the front was cut so that it did not obscure her goggled vision. Next to her sat a man clothed in all black, looking at the vast expanse of desert with the one eye not cloaked underneath a mat of hair. And in the back of the buggy sat a man wearing a white cloak, the hood over his face. Over his mouth was a white silk scarf, protecting his mouth from the sand. The buggy pulled up at the Arizona Marinae base and out stepped the three people inside. The two sitting in the front now seemingly escorted the man in white to Don Alden and Barrek, keeping a close eye on every armed man on the base. The man in white pulled down his cloak, revealing his greying black hair and kind eyes, before he pulled down the scarf and spoke with a voice that many had come to idolize.

"I apologize, the sand is bad for my lungs. Would it be possible for us to go inside?"

OOC: Amudaus is Dislexic, and refuses to let me read over his posts and kind of spell check them for him... every time I offer he goes "FUCK NO!!" or something along those lines. I know it is a pain in the ass and it usually hurts to read it, but try to bear with it... disturbingly, it is not the worst I have seen on here.

IC:

*Barrek watches the buggy pull up, his eyes scan over the men in white and black, and fix on the woman... He had seen her before, years ago. His mind darted back, searching for her face. It suddenly struck him, that was the woman he saw when he left his father's lab just before he was killed. He had just lit his lighter, and doesn't close it, his left fist tightens at his side, and his eyes narrow. He looks like he is about ready to kill someone, just waiting for an excuse to.*

Leon's eye raised to the sky. His other began scanning the nearby area. It sensed several shard users at the camp, but he also sensed a shard off in the distance. Where one of the men was looking a few moments before. With a simple thought his eye increased the range and attempted to look for details on this person. There was a strange feel about him, and what he was doing...His head tilted slightly in the direction of Edgar, His voice came out a bit rhaspy at first but turned to normal.

"They've got a shard hunter out in the desert. They must be looking for the phantom shards."

Leon looked at the man they walked up to, his name was Don, and as of yet, Leon hadn't seen anything he liked about him. Leon stood silently at the side of Edgar, his hand on his revolver ready to act with a moment's notice. His black dress-shirt was buttoned all the way up, and his tight black jeans were relatively clean, though they seemed to be beginning to pick up some of the dirt that's flying around. Hsi boots were once black, but now they are covered in a light brown dusting of...dust...How redundant. A new addition to his outfit was a large brown overcoat which protected him from the sun a bit. And upon his head was a brown military cap, with the bill frontwards. All of the buttons on his shirt were silver and bore the symbol of an equal armed cross engraved in them. Slung over his shoulder was a messenger bag probably filled with goodies.

OOC: I apologize if this is a bit awkward to read, I felt it would be a good change of pace for myself to write most of my posts in first-person and mostly present tense, to give this story a bit more feel to it from my end. That and it's just enjoyable to write this way.
And here is something I played with, to give you all an idea of my character : http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/39976267/ yes that's an image of who you think it is.

IC:

Silently rummaging through the supply crates I had snuck into, I had my thoughts to myself out there in the desert...

I can't believe it, of all people they send out here, they sent me. Suppose given my history, irony's always had a hand in things. Send me out to their camp while they're having peace talks. Perfect. Sie sind verrückt. Ich glaube dies nicht. Ich hasse dies.I should quit muttering to myself, can't let myself get caught.
All these kids, out fighting a war on their own, thinking they're doing the right thing. Senseless. Though I've done my fair share of dragging others into this. Perhaps if this works, I can change some things. I'll just have to keep telling myself that.

It seems there's a kid here too. I'll just Hrrhn phase my head out to listen around some. There's a truck coming in off from the distance. That must be those religeous head-jobs. Come to settle an agreement because some god has told them too. Well we'll see. This better not get messy, I've only got this old tommy and my nine with me, and it's been a few years since I've fired one on my own free time. Let's hope my shoulder's good for it.

Hhhrrn. I always get that odd cold sensation when I phase reality fabric to move around. I hope no one heard that little sigh of mine. Just turn on this little LCD *chk* and check over my gear. Heh. Still wearing my suit as always, though I've changed out my shoes for boots out here. It's a good thing I'm hiding in large dark crate, they haven't found me in here since I glided in from the desert. One step per normal man's 5 paces with these bands. I'll have to remember to get some new padding for them though...

Let's just wait and see what happens. Either something is going to go unexpected, or I just wait for the signal and all goes smoothly as planned.

Like that will happen.

(Last edited by Shard on 09-18-06 12:11 AM)

KatanaDark Wizard\"She said tonight...come on come on collide...see what I fire feels like..I bet its just like heaven.\"

OOC: One thing I have qualms with...who the hell is Josiah Radque? Lol. I checked the discussion thread and am like "k...who the hell is this guy, what am I supposed to be picturing here...like I dunno how old the dude is, so how would I talk to him..."

BIC: A grin slowly crept across Holly's face, her blue eyes twinkling with excitement. She took a few steps in Joshia's direction, just as he had beckoned. She pulled her blue cloack tightly about her, shielding herself from the sand being blown around her.

"So..." Her voice came out calm and smoothly. She paused behind him and rested her chin on his left shoulder. "If it isn't a phantom...think it'll at least be anything good?" She asked as she peered down at the shard he carried in his hands.

He pulled out his binoculars from a sack on his mortorcycle. The shard glimmered as it hung around his neck. With a grin, he turned to his multitude of henchmen.

"Ha! I knew it! There's gotta be some information about them shards with these punks! Alright, boys, let's move in. Don't attack until I say so."

With that, he revved his bike, and the rest of the gang followed suit. In a clout of dust, he basted off into the sand, and rode out to the camp. The gang was hooting and hollering, to let them know that they were coming. Zaku got a smile on his face. He had a good feeling about this.
As he rached the encampment, he swerved his bike and stopped, kicking up dust into everyone's face who was in the range of effect. As he dismounted, the gang stopped, and a perimeter was formed around the camp. Zaku eyed the scenario cautiously.

"Alright! Who's leading this merry little party?" he sneered, as he glanced to each one of the people.

I was listening to what was going on outside my crate. That noise and rumbling just got louder and louder, and then I started to hear voices. Something was going on.

Looks like I should make myself ready to act. Things are probably going to get messy, just like I thought. When is he going to give us a signal to act? I don't want to be hidden away the whole time. Oh, what's this? Something's happening...

ooc--- WARNING :: Religious Zealot gets really pissed off, It's a shame the calm leader of my group is not here to stop me/post before me. I apologise in advance, I'm only successfully role-playing my character.

Leon reacted instinctively, as he usually does when he observes the beginning of conflicts, began to get violent. His revolver was in his right hand and he pulled a P90 from his messenger bag, grasping it tightly in his left. He saw these goons riding up from far afar, but really noticed thier leader the most, He was using his shard only moments before. His real eye scanned those who stood before him, and he could hear the gang riding up towards them. They were still a good distance away however...

"So, the ungoldy before us have enlisted some help?" Leon's arm with the revolver in it rose to Don's head. " A special ring of hell is reserved for those like you brother, and I'll be sure to send you there as expediantly as possible. I don't want to cheat the Devil out of the fun he'll have with you. Give me one good reason why I, in the name of God, should not strike you down where you stand."

Leon's left hand was poised at the leader of this gang, and his P90 was ready to go. The gang rode up and their leader was within lethal range.

Zaku simply closed his eyes and smirked. He didn't have time for this.

"I don't have time for this!" (ooc: ) "Just tell me who's running this joint. I need a little well-deserved information on the location of a few shards." He looked back to Leon, who wasn't ready to back down.

"Alright then, God-boy. Maybe you can tell me. A rival gang stole our supplies, and in return, we're gonna steal their shards. Maybe you've seen them; The Rahway Marauders. They travel with huge red bikes, in a small group."

He glared at the man. His impudence was irritating Zaku. *Maybe THEY have shards... If so...* he thought to himself.

KatanaDark Wizard\"She said tonight...come on come on collide...see what I fire feels like..I bet its just like heaven.\"

(OOC: Was very confused at first, with where everyone was...had to delete a post, and now hopefully this one will be okay. )

As Holly peered down at Joshias' shard, it seemed to react more when he held it in one direction, as opposed to all the others. However, she didn't like where it was leading them.

"Figures, the damned thing leads us to all the commotion..." Holly commented nonchalantly as she tugged on her partner's arm to get him to move into the direction in which his shard directed them.

Upon closer inspection, Holly could see a group of men standing outside of a few tents. Among them were a bunch of others on motorcycles. "Great." She muttered to herself and continued cursing under her breath. She beckoned Joshias toward her, but also placed a finger gingerly to her lips, letting him know to keep as quiet as he could.

Slowly, Holly made her way toward the scene. Once she was within hearing distance, she spotted a few crates and crouched behind them.

Holly glanced back at Josiah and slowly shook her head. "We may end up spooking them if we attempt to communicate with them at this second." She whispered softly before directing her attention back to the scene ahead.